Appeal to help disabled Doncaster boy walk smashes £50,000 barrier

Big-hearted fundraisers have helped an appeal to raise cash for a severely disabled Doncaster youngster smash through the £50,000 barrier.

The countdown is now on to reach the £70,000 target needed to send Balby youngster William Moreland to the United States for a life-changing operation which will allow him to walk for the very first time.

And proud mum Michelle Gale admits she has been “overwhelmed” by people who have rushed to back the campaign to help William who suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy which means he cannot walk, cannot care for himself and has to use a wheelchair with an operation known as Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy his gateway to helping him to take his first steps.

She said: “The response has been absolutely fantastic. So many people who I don’t even know have come forward to do things and raise money.

“It all seemed such a long way away when we started the campaign but now it is getting closer I am starting to get excited.”

The target for William, four, of Newbolt Road, Balby, was given a huge boost when an anonymous benefactor donated £35,000 - half the total needed - earlier this year.

The donation has allowed Michelle to move the date of the operation forward from next January to this October - and she says her son is beginning to realise that his life could soon change for the better, thanks to the massive fundraising drive.

She said: “He knows people are raising money to help make his legs better. I’ve told him the doctors over in America will do some special magic to help him walk and he won’t be in pain and you can see what that means to him.”

“It is amazing to think that in the next few months, William’s life will change for the better forever. People don’t realise the daily struggles he has to go through, the pain he is in or how much of a challenge everything is,” added Michelle.

To donate visit www.williamswish2walk.weebly.com or www.justgiving.com/Williams-Wish2Walk or text WWTW70 and a donation amount to 70070, eg WWTW70 £5.